According to the Social Security Administration (www.ssa.gov), there will be an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase to monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit amounts. Federal benefit rates increase when the cost of living rises, as measured by the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index (CPI-W).
For details about the CPI-W index see https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf. (The CPI-W rises when inflation increases, making your cost of living go up. This means prices for goods and services, on average, are a little more expensive, so the COLA helps to offset these costs.) Therefore, due to price increases for goods and services, almost 69 million Americans will see a 1.6 percent increase in their Social Security and SSI benefits in 2020.
The Social Security Administration goes on to state that in January 2020 other changes will happen based on the increase in the national average wage index. For example, the maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security payroll tax, as well as the retirement earnings test exempt amount, will change in 2020.
Do you want to determine your new 2020 benefit amount? In December 2019, the SSA will post Social Security COLA notices online for retirement, survivors, and disability beneficiaries who have a my Social Security account (https://www.ssa.gov/site/signin/en/). You will be able to view and save these COLA notices securely via the Message Center inside my Social Security. You can also opt-out of receiving notices by mail that are available online.
